The present invention relates to techniques for aggregating information.
Employers and employees are required to report withholdings and unemployment insurance taxes that are associated with employees' salaries, on a monthly or bimonthly basis, when paychecks are issued. These levies typically require an employer to file taxes (also referred to as filings) on a quarterly and annual basis and liability (also referred to as payments) on a weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, quarterly or annual basis. To streamline this process, many governmental agencies at the local, state and federal level are allowing these filings and payments to be submitted electronically, for example, on a web page or website that is accessible via the Internet or World Wide Web. Users connect to such sites, provide the necessary one-time enrollment information, and then file or pay their taxes on a regular basis.
Unfortunately, the systems employed by these various governmental agencies are often not very sophisticated, which typically requires employers to logon and type data on multiple websites operated by federal and state tax agencies. In addition, most of these web pages and websites are customized to the needs of the corresponding governmental agencies. As a consequence, each of these web pages and web sites presents a different experience to users as they navigate, access accounts, and pay and file taxes. This complexity is a burden to the users that increases the difficulty and expenses associated with paying and filing employment taxes.
At the same time, financial-accounting software, such as payroll-accounting software, is becoming increasingly popular. This software offers a broad range of functionality to users, such as the ability to determine employment taxes when generating paychecks, and compiling account history and statistical information that are used in preparing employment tax filings and payments. During this process, these programs often assemble considerable financial information about their users. However, existing payroll-accounting software is not configured to leverage this information to assist users in interacting with the wide variety of websites and web pages used by various governmental agencies.